Photooxidation of some organic pollutants (p-nitroaniline,
p-aminophenols and acetanilide) has been carried out in the presence of photo-Fenton reagent. The effect of various parameters like pH, concentrations of organic compounds, ferric ions and hydrogen peroxide and light intensity, etc. on the reaction rate has been studied. The degradation is found to be pseudo first order. The optimum pHs for the degradation of
p-aminophenol, p-nitroaniline and acetanilide are found to be 3.0, 3.5 and 2.5, respectively while the rate degradations of the three compounds are found to be comparable. The study shows that the photo-Fenton process are more effective and faster than Fenton's reagent in oxidation of organic compounds, and that the organic compounds are completely oxidized and degraded into CO₂ and H₂O. A tentative mechanism has been proposed. Excellent removal has been obtained using photo-Fenton process assisted with artificial irradiation. This study demonstrates that the use of photo-Fenton process on organic effluents wastewater treatment is very promising, especially when solar light is used.